The trouble with physics?

Question

Has anyone read this book by Lee Smolin? What do you think of it?

Answer 1

Smolin's 2006 book, The Trouble with Physics, is broadly concerned with the role of controversy and diversity of approaches in the ethics and process of science. It is strongly critical of string theory and of its prominence in contemporary theoretical physics. He suggests both that there appear to be serious deficiencies in string theory and that string theory has an unhealthy near-monopoly in US fundamental physics, and that a diversity of approaches is needed. It argues that more attention should instead be paid to loop quantum gravity, an approach to quantum gravity devised by Smolin.

The claims, many of which are controversial, that the book make include:

that string theory makes no new testable predictions

that there is no coherent mathematical formulation of string theory

that it has not been mathematically proven to be finite  

that the proposal of a landscape of up to 10500 string vacuum solutions is tantamount to abandoning accepted science: